The question of whether the U.S. needs a digital dollar moved far higher up the political agenda this week, as the need for a central bank digital currency (CBDC) played a leading role in President Joe Biden’s eagerly awaited executive order on regulating cryptocurrencies.
While the order, issued on Wednesday (March 9), did not make any decisions on the matter, it did make the CBDC question a priority within the broader crypto debate. Discussing the issue before ones like protecting consumers, financial stability, cybercrime and money laundering, it said that the administration “places the highest urgency on research and development efforts into the potential design and deployment options of a United States CBDC.”
See also: White House Crypto Executive Order Ignites Digital Dollar Debate
The directive is far more attention than it’s gotten from other officials, with Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell and Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen still undecided on the issue, and Powell making clear that there was no hurry even if the digital dollar is greenlighted.
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